DfEE Green Paper (22/10/1997) - Practical support: the framework for SEN provision

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3 Practical support: the framework for SEN provision

Improving provision at stages 1-3 of the Code of Practice

6. Parents need to be confident that effective help will be provided by schools at stages 1-3 of the Code of Practice. For many children, special educational needs will be transitory. Support at stages 1-3 for a year or two will be all that is needed. But the amount and quality of extra help given to children at these stages varies from school to school, both within and between LEAs. The point at which schools conclude that such support has been ineffective and ask the LEA to assess a child for a statement also varies widely.

7. Schools' ability to meet the needs of children with SEN will develop only if staff are able to draw on relevant expertise. We believe that LEAs should help schools improve the quality of provision for SEN by:

monitoring the quality of provision at stages 1-3, and reporting their conclusions to headteachers and governors;
helping schools to develop, implement and review their SEN policies; and providing more advice on aspects of SEN practice (as distinct from documentation);
enabling educational psychologists and LEA learning support staff to spend more time working with children in schools and helping teachers improve their skills in meeting the needs of children at stages 1-3;
supporting e-mail links between schools and SEN support services to give prompt help to SEN co-ordinators (SENCOs) and other teachers;
encouraging schools to improve staff expertise through professional development or, for example, by arranging for local SENCOs to exchange ideas on good practice;
collecting and comparing SEN data for mainstream schools, and disseminating benchmark and good practice information to schools.

Case study - SEN policies in Newham

Newham LEA has helped its schools develop their SEN policies and has demonstrated the value of an LEA-wide approach. All schools were asked to send a copy of their SEN policy to the LEA. The LEA's officers reviewed all the policies against the statutory requirements. Schools were subsequently given an individual report commenting on both the positive features of their policy and the areas needing attention. The LEA also gave schools guidance on issues highlighted by the policies submitted. Newham schools have developed and updated their policies in the light of this advice.

QUESTION: How can LEAs help schools improve the quality of provision at stages 1-3 of the Code of Practice?

8. Improvements in the quality of provision at stages 1-3 should reduce the need for some children to move to a statutory assessment. Parents will however want to be certain that the school is doing all it can to help their child at stage 3, with support where necessary from outside services. There is a case for strengthening the assurance on this. One option would be for schools to offer a contract to parents at stage 3 - essentially, a strengthened IEP - specifying the agreed special educational provision the child would receive from inside and outside the school and the support whi ch the parents would be expected to give.

9. The aim for most children with SEN should be to move back down the stages of the Code of Practice once intervention has successfully begun to address the child's difficulties. In this way, support will become increasingly school-based and class-based. But as structured help is gradually withdrawn, schools will often need to continue with flexible approaches - whether in terms of time or access to special facilities - so that the child does not suffer from too sudden a transition.

QUESTION: How can we strengthen the assurance to parents that schools will offer effective and consistent support at stages 1- 3 of the Code of Practice? Should we introduce contracts between schools and parents specifying the agreed extra provision the child will receive at stage 3?ow can we reduce the paperwork associated with the Code?

31/08/2000